TRANSITION OF POWER

Federico Fantacone, the keyboardist behind Orchestre Celesti is obviously quite talented. On this album he plays in a range of styles, from almost new age to close to full blown symphonic progressive. His keyboard playing is splendid, and his compositional skills are intriguing.

However, he falls into a trap that seems to entwine many solo artists. The instrumentation that he programs around his wonderful keyboard leads often doesn't match the intensity, and brings the music down. Particularly the drums. Few non-drummers seem to be able to reproduce with synthesizers the nuances of a human drummer. Fantacone's drums are way too mechanical, and usually too light for the music. The bass synths bug me a bit, too, but since I was a bass player, I'm especially sensitive to that.

Despite the problems above, I like the album.